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Nuggets roll past Bulls on Kenneth Faried's big night

Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried celebrates after scoring a basket against the Chicago Bulls in Denver on Thursday.
(David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

Forget calling it the Pepsi Center. This place is the Manimal House.

With every aerodynamic aerial assault on the rim, Kenneth Faried turns the arena into his own fraternity house-like party, as the beer-guzzling crowd erupts in ecstasy. During Thursday's 128-96 win, running the Bulls out of the gym, the guy they call "The Manimal" was potent — shoot, he was omnipotent, sprinting, shooting, soaring and skewering Chicago. He finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, doing so in just the 25 minutes his services were required.

"Not a lot of people (nationally) see us when we play," Faried said, "so more people wanted to step to the stage on a nationally televised stage, and we brought it tonight. People might not respect us as much because we're not on TV as much like a Clippers, Lakers or Knicks. But today we made a statement on TNT, showing everybody - hey, pay attention."

The Nuggets have won eight in a row. The last time Denver did this? It was in January 2010, back in the melodic Melo days. The Nuggets are fourth in the Western Conference, heading on winnable road trip at Cleveland, Boston, Toronto and Brooklyn.

It might not be their best win of the season (Denver has defeated Oklahoma City), but this was perhaps the most impressive. The Bulls entered the night as one of the league's marquee defensive squads, monsters of the midway. Entering Thursday, only two NBA teams allowed fewer points than the 91 the Bulls allow on average. But by the end of the third quarter, Denver led 100-74.

Previously, the most points ever allowed by the Bulls under coach Tom Thibodeau was 120.

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And the stat of the night? Point guard Ty Lawson finished plus-40.

"I just think Ty got everybody involved - the 12 assists are as impressive as the plus-40," Nuggets coach George Karl said.

The game, really, was just an exhibition of excesses, with Denver doing what it does best — pushing the basketball and dunking the basketball. In the third quarter alone, JaVale McGee threw down three JaNasty dunks. Denver finished with 64 points in the paint and 23 fast-break points and, most important, cracked 110 points to get the fans tacos.

"I think we've done a good job at staying focused on the task at hand," Nuggets guard Andre Iguodala said. "But we still have a long ways to go as far as jelling and coming together as a unit."

Faried, fired up by his invitation to the dunk contest at All-Star Weekend, scored nine points in the first quarter, including a point guard-y transition finger roll. In the first half, Faried pitched a perfect game, going 8-for-8 from the field, totaling 17 points and eight boards, numbers that most players would want to have as their season averages. After one particular dunk, on a transition pass from Lawson, Faried was hanging from the rim with his body parallel to the floor.

The Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman posts analysis, notes and more on this blog focussing on the Denver Nuggets.

Faried hustles horizontally and vertically, assaulting the basketball during rebounds. He finished the night with a dozen boards, four of them on the offensive end.

Oh, and how about "Ill Wil"? Reserve Wilson Chandler had been brutal on the offensive end in his previous four games, but he splashed a 3 on his first shot Thursday and then splashed a 3 on his second shot too. Second quarter, same thing, two more 2s. Chandler finished the night with 24 points in only 18 minutes, shooting 8-for-9 from the field and 5-for-5 on 3s.

"Wilson and Kenneth, what an incredible performance for our power forward position," Karl said.

Entering Thursday, he had made nine 3s all season, in 13 games, shooting 29 percent beyond the arc. An ill night indeed.

Nuggets Recap

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The Nuggets scored a season-high 128 points, surpassing the 126 tallied against the Lakers on Dec. 26. ... They scored 37 points in the third quarter (Chicago scored only 16), two from tying the most points by the Nuggets in a quarter (39 against Sacramento on Jan. 26). ... Five Nuggets scored 14 or more points.

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